Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s campaign is asking two Michigan Supreme Court justices to refrain from making decisions on the legal challenge to the statewide ballot recount. That’s because they’ve been named by President-elect Donald Trump as potential nominees to the US Supreme Court.Continue reading →

A request to recount four-point-nine (m) million paper ballots has been filed with state Bureau of Elections. The petition was filed by the campaign of Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein. She won just over one percent of the vote on November eighth.Continue reading →

How will a Trump administration impact the Great Lakes? The president-elect has vowed to de-fund the Environmental Protection Agency, and some advocates are concerned about his commitment to the environment.

“Millennials.” Depending on who you ask, most agree the term is used to describe people born in the 1980s or 1990s, especially in the U.S. While a quick google search turns up hundreds of articles talking about the challenges of getting Millennials to vote, CMU Public Radio’s Sarah Adams discovered that this election has them singing a different tune.

Michigan residents have contributed millions of dollars this election cycle to presidential candidates…mainly to the two from the major parties: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But third party candidates are collecting more cash this election season.

The election is tomorrow, but if you thought the major party candidates were going to take a break, you would be wrong. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was back in Michigan Monday.Continue reading →

There weren’t a lot of Trump protestors outside the Air Zoo before Trump’s running mate Mike Pence was scheduled to start. There were two, to be exact, when I arrived a half hour before the doors opened.Continue reading →

One-time Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders urged a crowd in Kalamazoo to vote for his former rival for the Democratic nomination next week. Sanders spoke at a get out the vote rally Wednesday on the Western Michigan University campus for Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Sanders told the audience that the work of transforming the county has to continue after next week’s election:

“That in America today while the middle class shrinks, while 43-million people live in poverty, some in extreme poverty, the wealthiest people and the largest corporations have never had it so good”

Sanders’ visit is part of a flurry of campaign activity in Michigan leading up to Tuesday’s election. Republican Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence is scheduled to be in Portage tomorrow. Hillary Clinton will appear at a get out the vote rally Friday in Detroit.

Advocates for the Great Lakes are watching the presidential election and hoping the next US president will continue to prioritize restoration across the region.

Groups from New York to Michigan to Ontario say there’s still a lot of work to be done, and they hope the next president supports them in managing invasive species, addressing climate change, and cleaning up polluted areas.

Peter Annin is co-director of the Mary Griggs Burke Center for freshwater innovation at Northland College in Wisconsin. He recently brought together a group of experts representing everything from commercial to environmental interests.

Annin says many ideas came out of the summit, including the desire to start actively preserving Great Lakes ecosystems.

“Should there be more dollars invested in preservation work,” he asks, “and maybe a little bit less in restoration work?”

Many of that group’s ideas echoed recommendations from the Great Lakes Commission earlier this year.

Local groups are also weighing in. Jill Jedlicka from the Buffalo Niagara RiverKeeper says the next administration needs to work closely with community leaders.

“It’s one thing to make judgments from offices in Washington,” says Jedlicka. “But if they don’t maintain that communication and understanding from the front lines then they’re not fully informed to make decisions.”

Mark Mattson with Lake Ontario WaterKeeper in Canada hopes the next US president will be a uniting force among the states, provinces, tribes, and others with a stake in the lakes.

“There’s so many different visions and different ideas about what needs to be addressed,” he says.